business mums

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had …”

a damn fine time at both to be honest!

The first, arranged and hosted by the “glowing” Amanda Farren and the always lovely Laura Rigbywas a dynamic , fun-filled day in the Heart of England. There was an audible gasp of pleasure at the goodie bags and beautiful red leather notebooks supplied by sponsors Rymans. The speakers were dynamic and inspiring and the workshops I attended were fun and informative. http://www.mumpreneuruk.com/mumpreneur-conference/2010-mumpreneur-conference

I attended last year and ran my first Mum Ultrapreneur workshop to a packed house. It was a great pleasure to return as a delegate this year and see how far the event had come.

There were two launches. The first of http://www.mumpreneuruk.com/

a great new resource for mums in business and the Mums’ Mission Calender http://www.mumsmission.co.uk/

with some very naked but beautiful mumpreneurs raising money for SANDS http://www.uk-sands.org/

For me personally this was a uplifting event where I got to reunite with so many business mums I had met the previous years and meet in real time many others I had grown to count as friends through Twitter. Whilst many of these new friends were nominated or an award only Sam and Helen of Mums the Boss won the category of Best Business Support. Well done ladies .

I was honoured to wear their charity tattoo with pride! As I am also honoured to be their “inspiration guru” http://www.mumstheblog.co.uk/category/inspiration/

. Scroll down and read my last post “When life gives you lemons…”

It was a great weekend. And may I take a minute to also thank my very good friends: Victoria Dixon http://www.enhance-me.com/

, Vickie Humber http://www.humbershomemade.co.uk/

and Margaret Hitchman http://www.bagelheavenbournemouth.webs.com/

for making the day such fun.

And then came Brighton…

The Business Mum Conference http://www.businessmumsconference.co.uk/

was a very slick, very professional event ably hosted by the brilliant Antonia Chitty http://www.themumpreneurguide.co.uk/

and wonderful Nicky Chisholm http://mumsinbiz.co.uk/ .

Again the speakers were very inspiring and the workshops were informative. This event was a very well oiled machine demonstrating the amazing potential of businesses created by mums on a part time basis addressing a need or a better work-life balance. This was sub-titled the “Mumpreneur Conference for the South” and as I live in Kent this is my backyard… yet I hardly knew anyone there in comparison with the Midlands event when I struggled to get to speak to everyone I knew. But it did demonstrate to me that there is a thriving business mum community in the South and I left pumped up and inspired to “just do it”.

The Awards ceremony was short and sweet. I was delighted that Lynda Harding of easidream http://www.easidream.co.uk/

was a finalist for “Best Start Up”. Now a TV star http://www.itv.com/daybreak/lifestyle/familiesandparenting/

I was delighted to finally meet Lynda, whom I have spoken to so often for the radio show and be able to congratulate her on her award at the same time. Check out Lynda’s most recent interview where she is joined by one of the amazing speakers of the Midlands event Emma Wimhurst in the archived section of the show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mumultrapreneur/2010/10/06/mum-ultrapreneur-with-susan-odev

I was also personally delighted to see again my good friend Martine Brennan, http://kerrycoaching.weebly.com/

whom I had worked with in Parknasilla, Kerry back in May and share a lunch table with local Kent business mum Shelley Whittaker http://www.thepublicityhouse.co.uk/Welcome.html

and Midlands workshop leader and ace lawyer Suzanne Dibble http://www.lawyers4mumpreneurs.com/

The highlight of the day , for me , was the panel at the end. A fantastic selection of mumpreneurs who brought to life the realities of being working mums.

Both days had a very different vibe to them but both shared the same message… being a mum in business is not an easy option but it can be extremely fulfilling one and like all the women I heard and met on these two incredible days

” You can do it”!

This post is also copied onto my main site http://www.mum-ultrapreneur.co.uk